Friday, February 13, 2009

I've been toying around with the idea of personalizing all my handmade creations with labels for awhile now, and I'm thrilled to say that I've finally slayed the procrastination beast and done it!

I've seen labels made via the iron-on transfer paper method, where you print your label yourself and then iron it on to ribbon. I thought that was a nifty idea and the results I've seen came out great, but honestly I'm so technologically inept that I foresee many a losing battle with my printer if I go that route.

In the end, I decided on a more basic, fool-proof method to make my labels -- hand stamping on ribbon.

The first thing I did was have a stamp made. I decided to skip the fancy graphics and just have "Willy-Nilly Waterlily" spelled out plain and neat. I found JLMould through Etsy and they did an amazing job of creating my stamp for me. Then I just stamped away!

Here's some quick tips if you want to try this yourself:1. Use a quick drying, permanent ink pad.2. Experiment on different types of ribbon. I found that stamping on medium weight 100% cotton ribbon had the least ink bleed of all the ribbons I had on hand and made the crispest stamp images. On the other hand, polyester satin ribbon had the most ink bleed and the blurriest stamp image, so you might want to steer clear of that stuff.3. Heat set your freshly stamped labels by pressing with an iron (at the highest temperature your ribbon can stand) for about a minute. After doing this I found that my labels stood up much better to a soap and water wash test.

Here are my labels hand sewn onto some owl butts. I just love how they came out!

Speaking of owls, this trio will be going up in my shop shortly. They are all made with super sweet cotton and linen Japanese print fabrics, and a coordinating cotton corduroy. If you're interested, please stay tuned to my shop. :)

On a very random note, I'll end this post with one of the reasons I'm so fortunate to live in Hawaii -- Lappert's Premium Ice Cream. It's made right here in the islands and it's without a doubt the best ice cream I've ever had the pleasure to taste. My favorite flavor is Mauna Kea's Secret (on the right), which is a yummilicious mix of white chocolate ice cream, rasberry sorbet, chocolate chips, and chocolate brownie chunks. Can you say heaven? Please, if you ever visit Hawaii you MUST have some! You know I'd never steer you wrong! :)

Hey Girl! I actually did see Jude Law on Valentines! They were playing The Holiday on TV that night..LOL! I love your idea of stamping your company name on ribbon! I have been eyeing your owl and cacti! The ice cream must be amazing! I LOVE the malasadas they make down there!

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